


First Year

by elleash



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Book 1: The Cruel Prince, Book 2: The Wicked King, F/M, Folk of the air
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 20:17:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18156557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elleash/pseuds/elleash
Summary: Modern AU where Jude, Cardan and everyone else are very much human and very much angsty teenagers in their first year of university.There might be general spoilers for the series, but nothing explicit. This is also my first writing thing since god knows when so I would really appreciate feedback. I’m also British so the set of the university and language used will probably reflect that😂





	First Year

Jude sat at the back of the lecture theatre on her own. It was the first day of university and this was her first class of the day. She didn’t know anyone and wondered if anyone would come and sit next to her at the back. So far, students had mostly sat in the middle, unsurprising that they would avoid sitting at the front. It was 8.55 and the lecturer had not yet arrived. Half of the students were making small talk with people they were obviously meeting for the first time and the other half sat in silence simply looking around, unsure of what to do with themselves.

Jude had been at university for a week. She had bonded with her flat mates and they had managed to get into some fresher parties on campus without knowing anyone who lived in the flats they went to. It seemed people who didn’t know anyone weren’t picky with who they let into their house. They were drunk every night of their first week and Jude was paying for it now, as she sat at the back of the lecture theatre. She had bought herself coffee before heading to the lecture and had only taken one sip. Jude had always hated coffee, but it was what people did on tv when they were hungover. She decided she would rather have the hangover.

Jude watches the clock as it strikes 9am. She tries to focus on the front of the classroom. The lecturer walked from the door behind Jude to the front of the classroom and set up a PowerPoint on an introduction to Shakespeare. Jude takes off the lid of the pen she’s holding and starts to doodle on the notepad she brought with her when the theatre door opens behind her again. A couple of people turn around and their eyes widen before turning to look back at the lecturer who is introducing himself. Jude glances sideways and the people who walked into the theatre pass.

She understands why people were startled by their entrance - they’re beautiful. Four stride down the steps past Jude and into an empty row three down from her. The leader of their pack is tall, all contours and sharp lines. He glances in her direction and she notices his black eyes against his pale skin, almost completely black apart from a narrow ring of gold on the outer of his iris. It compliments his black hair she thinks as he looks away, as if he had never saw her. The next boy walked holding the hand of the only girl in their group. His red hair was bright and was greatly contracted against the pale blue hair of the girl he was pulling along. Jude could see the brown roots of the girls hair starting to show through, but she was beautiful. As was the last boy who followed sliding into a seat after the other three. His blonde hair looks almost golden with the lights bouncing off his hair. They are all sharp lines and contours, she realises. They are striking.

The lecture is mostly admin. What will they learn, when will they learn it, what books do they need to buy, what are their assignments. The hour drags and Jude finds herself mostly staring at the back of the heads of the group that had walked in late. When the clock strikes 10 the lecturer dismisses them. Jude has another one hour lecture, which the four others do not attend, much to her disappointment. They were rather nice to look at. After her classes are finished for the day she heads towards her flat to get ready for work.

She had found a job ready for the school year a couple of months ago in the local bookshop, but this was her first proper shift. She knew the book shop was a good idea. They were peaceful places and she hoped for a good discount so the uni books wouldn’t cost quite as much as they would otherwise. The walk to work only took Jude about 15 minutes. The bookshop was on the high street not far from their campus. There were coffee shops and charity shops, a newsagents and an opticians. At the end of the street was a doctors surgery, but that wasn’t near the book shop which Jude ducks into.

It’s busy, as she expected. Mostly, university students are analysing the different titles in all different sections. Jude is happy they haven’t decided to put her on a till today. Having no clue what you’re doing with it being this busy would have been dreadful. Instead she picks up a box of children’s books and heads towards the back of the store where the books for children are displayed. She fills the gaps on the shelves with the books in her box and closes it ready to put back in the store room.

As she walks past the drama section she stops to quickly look at what Shakespeare is left. It’s early in the day still so most of what she needs is there. She picks a couple off of the shelf and puts them in the box with the left over children books, those are coming with me, she thinks and turns around holding the box in front of her.

She hits into someone as soon as she turns. “I am so sorry.”

Jude drops the box. It is the black haired boy from her lecture. He peers into the open box, “That is quite a diverse selection of reading material.”

“Uh,” Jude takes a moment. His black eyes blink at her, the longer she takes to reply the wider a smirk spreads across his face. “I work here I’m not taking them home. Well, the Shakespeare I’m taking that home.”

He doesn’t care she thinks as they look at each other. He’s wearing black jeans that are tight to his legs with a white short sleeve shirt that doesn’t have a normal collar. It’s buttoned to the base of his throat. Now she is close to him she can see how pale his skin is. He is quite the opposite of her she thinks, the colour of hers makes it look as though she is permenantly tanned. Sharp lines when Jude is none of that. He thinks the same. He watches her push her auburn hair behind her shoulders and bend to lift the box. She has obviously decided the conversation has ended.

“Good luck finding your books.” She moves to walk away but he lightly catches her arm.

“Your name?” He asks.

She wasn’t expecting him to want to know her name but she tells me anyway, “Jude.”

Jude thinks about asking him, but she simply turns away and walks towards the store room. When she comes back out, he is gone.


End file.
